Driving to the Dolley Madison backlot in Mechanicsville is a pleasant experience until you realize you’re lost, and due on set. “Lord,” more than one actor exclaims, you are in a country setting, rural homes, and no sign of anything resembling a production or a backlot. Actors check their directions again, because “this can’t be the right place.” Yes, Pine something Road is correct, but these are people’s homes. I might be on the wrong side of Richmond! Then, a beacon, one lone sign hanging on a pole, “Set” with an arrow pointing up a gravelly dirt road saving the day. Beyond the pines, in the midst of a cornfield, rises 18th Century Philadelphia; home to Dorothea Payne Todd.

Tents, trailers, and cars clump behind the backlot, while the hustle and bustle of a city takes place behind the scenes. Generators and the crew continue to grind away as they have been since 6A. This ghost town used for the filming of John Adams is reincarnated. Middlemarch Films’ production of Dolley Madison for Twin Cities Public Television and PBS is breathing new life into Virginia production.

Working with Emily “Eve” Best is a treat. Salt of the Earth. Gracious. She really is, well, a Doll! Her focus and interaction with every cast member was something to behold. Her attention to character and detail demanded respect. Her general sense of humor, and obvious care for her fellow professionals in front of and behind the camera made her a joy to work with.

Had a wonderful time on set. Met many working actors making Hampton Roads and Richmond their home: Theodore and Bonnie Johnson, Patrick Byler Clark, Steven Stone, Eric Odom, Alan Zimmerman, Erica (you out-of-town fashion plate, you), Chaz Rittenhouse, Maya and Susan Fogg.

Director Muffie Myers, and DP Tom Hurwitz were moving at a fast pace, and still taking the time to work with actors. Ms. Myers establishes an incredibly comfortable atmosphere to create in. It was just a great day of shooting. Really enjoyed with the entire crew: Producer Julia Morrison, Joy Phillips, Diane – great energy. Costumers Noel and Brad helped me keep my hat on and Constance and her double-sided tape kept me together. Denise and Linda did wonders on the makeup. And Louis, thanks for taking us on the breezy golf cart tour of the backlot and cornfield. Who needed air conditioning?! Jane even kept us well “Crafted” with healthy (mostly) food! Heather, Shawn, Joy – thank you for your camera skills as well as all your duties!

Twin Cities Public Television Executive VP, National Production Gerry Richman took it all in with a smile Buddha would be proud of. All-in-all, this crew made it look easy.

Looking forward to tour next day’s shooting. Sylvia Hutson, Henry Jaderlund – thanks for setting this one up.

Google John Todd. Go ahead. See what happens. You get overwhelmed by information on an occultist that made a splash in the 1980′s. You want to find out about President James Madison’s wife Dolley’s first husband – you better hit the library and crack open a book. Luckily, when it comes to Revolutionary America through Roosevelt, the family library is one of the best. Hit the bookshelf, and there it is: Scribner’s (Charles Scribner’s Sons) 1896 Edition of Women of Colonial and Revolutionary Times; Dolly (sic) Madison.

Within these 287 pages are the few references spread over fourteen pages to her first husband, John Todd, Jr. He, like Dolley was a member of The Society of Friends; a Quaker. He was amiable, loving, and an attorney. I would call that a stretch – if I didn’t recall all three of those qualities in my own father, Albert Marten

“The wedding was solemnized in the Friends’ Meeting-House, on Pine Street, (Philadelphia) on the seventh day of First Month, 1790, when January whitened the Earth with a bridal-veil of snow….”

The only spoken words quoted from John Todd were his wedding vows.

“After the simple Quaker fashion, the groom repeated the formula – “‘I, John Todd, do take thee Dorothea Payne to be my wedded wife, and promise, through divine assistance, to be unto thee a loving husband, until separated by death.’”

The three years they were married saw them living in Philadelphia near the hosterly of the “Indian Princess”. Todd was spoken of as “a wealthy, young lawyer.” In 1792, their son John Payne Todd was born. In 1793, William Temple Todd was delivered. Not long after, Yellow Fever broke out in the City. A week after the outbreak, and public panic, those that could moved to the country. John Todd brought his family to Gray’s Ferry, a charming wooded spot on the banks of the Schuykill, at the crossing of the Baltimore post-road. Near enough to be accessible to the City, but far enough out of danger….

“Having seen his wife and two little children transported to the peace and relative security of this place, John Todd, like the true man he was, returned to the plague stricken town to face its risks in the performance of his duty. He found the shadow of death falling on his own household and arrived only in time to attend the dying bed of his father and mother.”

According to Scribners, he returned to Gray’s Ferry, bringing the disease with him. He settled in the land of fixedness in October of 1793. Dolley threw herself on him in a last embrace….She was on the verge of death for three weeks. When she came to, it was to find that she was both a widow and having lost her infant son, William.